I wish I was a visionary.

The union percentage for public employees is 37 percent (for all employees, it’s about 12 percent).

The type of defined benefits that the Lockheed union is fighting for–just for new hires, mind you–is what’s killing states and cities across the country. But that’s a separate issue.

Middle class prosperity has done just fine on its own in many, many industries in which unions never figured. Of the 16.3 million workers in union shops, 14.8 are union members, while only 1.5 million are workers who are not members but still work for a company covered by a union contract.

That 1.5 million, of which half are government, is your “penumbra” of prosperity. The “hangers-on” of union membership.

As for political contributions, note that unions have had free rein in contributions for the decades prior to the recent Supreme Court decision. What were they “balancing” then?

A list of where the campaign loot comes from, and which parties it goes to.

7%? I had no idea it had gotten that bad. And you guys are still blaming the unions for all your problems. You can’t have it both ways, you know? And now that the industrial unions are insignificant, the government unions are under attack.

Middle class prosperity is highly correlated with union membership, even for those workers who are not in a union. And unions are one of the few sources of non-corporate campaign funding for candidates in this increasingly money-dominated political system of ours, where corporations are people but workers are just lazy, lowlife scum who want a free ride and aren’t willing to work a lick for it.

When all the unions are gone, we’ll all live in a “right-to-work” country. Everyone will have a right to work, but nobody will have a job.

Is the theory that none of the others are middle class?

I don’t.

And, not to worry. Lockheed will have set up a second gate so she won’t have to cross a picket line.

And, I don’t have kind words or thoughts for someone who would cross a line.